Dough Ornament Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to bake or air dry salt dough? ›

My home ovens lowest temperature is 75C which is perfect for slow drying of the salt dough. If you find that your oven has the lowest temperature of above 150C then I would advise you to air dry your salt dough creations which will take considerably longer but will prevent the puffing up.

How Long Do Salt Dough Ornaments Last? If you seal the salt dough ornaments properly with craft varnish, they'll last for decades! If you don't, expect them to start crumbling after a year or two.

Cut out with cookie cutters. Transfer shapes to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat rolling and cutting out shapes to use up the dough. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

How do I preserve and store these Salt Dough Ornaments? In order to keep your ornaments and use them for several years, it is best to seal them. Painting them with acrylic paint, if you choose to, will begin the process. But a coat of Mod Podge or Acrylic sealer that is applied like a spray paint will be needed.

Make sure your oven is set to 150°f. This is SUPER IMPORTANT. I have seen others use hotter temperatures but I haven't been able to do so without getting puffiness. So, plain all-purpose flour, 150ºf oven and 1/4 inch thickness = no puffy ornaments.

If you overcook them, they tend to bubble up.

Ingredients for Salt Dough Ornaments

All Purpose Flour - all purpose white flour gives a smooth texture and white color to the ornaments. Salt - table salt works best for salt dough. Food coloring (optional) - you can use either gel or liquid food coloring for this.

Bake the dough at 250 degrees F or about 2 hours. You want to bake them until they're hardened. They will harden a little more once you remove them from the oven and let them cool but you want them to have a good hard texture before you remove them from the oven.

Once you've formed your salt dough, you can cook the creations in the oven to make them set. Once baked, they will harden and can be painted and decorated after they cooled down!

Can you use Himalayan pink salt for salt dough ornaments? ›

Mineral-rich sea salt or Himalayan salt is much healthier to eat but doesn't work as well for DIY salt dough ornaments. Regular, cheap table salt from the cardboard canister at the store makes the best salt dough. And it's much cheaper.

Seal the Dough and Add Glitter

Immediately sprinkle with the extra fine white glitter. Let dry completely. This step will really make the ornaments beautiful. The Mod Podge fills in some of the porous texture and smooths out the dough, while the glitter makes them shimmer and sparkle.

You could use acrylic paint, or even markers to decorate these ornaments. If you want your ornaments to last years and years, coat them with 3-4 very thin coats of polyurethane gloss varnish. Make sure to cover every exposed surface.

Why are my salt dough ornaments cracking? If your ornaments crack during or after baking, try adding a bit more water to the dough next time or cooking at a slightly lower temperature for a longer period of time.

Salt dough is a great material for making basic sculptures and three dimensional craft projects. It is an all-natural alternative to commercial play dough and homemade air-dry clay. Your finished salt dough sculptures can either be air-dried or oven-dried to set.

The great thing about it is that the salt dough sculptures will harden if you leave them out to dry at room temperature. Depending on the size of the pieces, it will take 2 to 7 days to dry completely. Turn the pieces from time to time for faster drying.

Bake at 100°C for two hours. Turn the oven off but leave your creations inside so they continue to dry as the oven cools down. Leave for as long as you can – overnight is ideal. If you don't want to use the oven, leave your salt dough creations out to dry for a couple of days.

The salt dough browns slightly when baked, while the air dry clay stays a bright pure white, and I think the clay also holds the shape of the cookie cutter much sharper and more defined without any shrinkage. But what I love most about this project is how simple and how affordable it is to make.